Journalist and Middle East analyst Jonathan Spyer talks to Fathom about the Iranian threat and the Western response to it. Spyer is director of research at the Middle East Forum and the author of The Transforming Fire: The Rise of the Israel-Islamist Conflict. He is a veteran of the Israel-Hezbollah war of 2006 and has been a regular contributor to Fathom for a decade.
Spyer argues that the West has long acted as though it does not fully appreciate the Iranian threat, and continues to do so despite Iran’s role in the war and Ukraine and explicit displays of aggression via its regional proxies. Situating Iran as part of a nexus of threats facing the West, which also includes Russia and China, Spyer urges Western actors to act to reverse its inattention.
